Electric-lamp post



(No Model.)

w. CARROLL. ELBGTRIG LAMP POST.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

IVILLIAM CARROLL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

ELECTRIC-LAMP POST.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 426,660, dated April 29, 1890.

Application filed April 12,1889. Serial No.306,936. (N model.)

all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM CARROLL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Ohicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Electric-Lamp Posts, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in the class of devices included under the term post for supporting electric lamps, and particularly arc lamps.

The objects of my improvement are to provide a construction of electric-lamp post which shall permit of its being firmly supported in operative position and afford protection to the wooden portion of the device toward its base, which shall afford protection to the conducting-wires of the circuit or circuits leading to and from it, and be especially effective for use with underground electric systems, and which shall afford a readily-accessible support for one or more appliancessuch as a switch for permitting the circuit of the lamp to be opened and closed, (thus, among the advantages thereby afforded, permitting all danger of injury to an operator in handling the lamp for the various well-known purposes to be obviated by enabling the circuit to be opened before requiring access to the lamp to be had for the purpose,) and such as fire-alarm, police, or mail boxes, and for the device known as a transformer for changing an alternating into an incandescent circuit.

My invention consists in the general construction of my improvement; and it also consists in details of construction and combinations of parts.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 shows my improved post in broken elevation. Fig. 2 is a view showing the wooden pole of the post in broken and partly-sectional elevation, with one side of the metallic casing removed to display its interior. Fig. 3 is a section taken on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2 and enlarged, and Fig. 4 a section taken on the line 4 4 of Fig. 2.

A is the lamp-post, comprising a pole B, preferably formed entirely of wood or other insulating material, though the advantages are atforded if only that portion be of insulating ma terial above the part shown to be enveloped from or from near its base to a suitable height by ametallic casing C. ThepoleB may extend from the surface of the ground if the latter afford a suitably firm foundation, as if it be a stone sidewalk, or from below the surface if it be necessary to provide a firm foundation, as in the case of a wooden sidewalk, through which the pole should be extended to a firm foundation.

Surrounding the base of the pole B from the ground to a suitable height is the casing O, formed of metal, (preferably cast or sheet iron,) and which should be provided with suitable ornamentation, such as that illustrated. At the base 7', which should be, especially for the sake of appearance, wider than the upper part, the casing is secured firmly to its foundation, and toward its upper end it is fastened to the pole in some suitable manner, as by entering a notch q, formed around the pole, and thereby affording also a water-shed, and in the base 1" the pole should be braced, as by the collar 19, supported from the sides. Between its extremities the casing-is expanded into or otherwise provided with a chamber D, affording a receptacle for desirable appliances, as hereinafter more particularly described, and from the chamber D to its upper extremity, where it supports the lamp E, the pole should be hollow.

I prefer to construct the casing O in the manner, and of the generally rectangular form in cross-section, illustrated, though, broadly considered,I do not limit my invention to any particular form of the casing. As shown, it is formed with three sides 0, 0, and o per manently or rigidly secured together or integral, and one (the front) side at is removable and adjustable.

At the chamber 1) a door at should be provided in the side a, as also a similar door in each of the lateral sides 0 and 0 the latter being merely indicated in the drawings by the reference-letter m.

As illustrated, the post A is adapted for connecting the lamp and other appliances in underground circuits by extending inductingtubes Z and 70 for the wires into the base 7". Obviously, however, the post may also be used with overhead systems of conductors.

The light-wire (not shown) is passed through the tube 70, casing O, and post 13 to the lamp, where it is properly connected with the latter, the side 92 of the casing being removed to permit ready access to the interior and replaced when the stringing or other operation for which the access to its interior is required has been performed.

In the box or chamber D, (the height of which should be such as to render it readily accessible to an operator standing on the ground,) in the path of the light-wire, is a switch F, of any suitable or ordinary c011- struction, with which to make proper connection of such wire, so that the circuit containing the lamp may be readily opened and closed by an operator without requiring for these purposes that he mount the post or handle the lamp, so that when the latter receives attention all danger of injury to the operator from the current may be guarded against. The chamber D may also afford a receptacle for a fire-alarm or police box Gr, (either of which may be of ordinary or any suitable construetion, and need not, therefore, be shown in detail,) to be connected in a circuit by awire entering into the casing through the tube Z, and if the box G be larger than will permit it to fit the chamber between the pole l3 and a door m the pole may be cut out to admit the box, as indicated in Fig. 3.

Other appliances than or with the box G may be inclosed in the chamber Dsuch as a letter-box, a testing-instrument, or a transformer, (which latter, of course, as also various other appliances, if connected in an underground system, do not require the pole B,

as the latter need perform. no function in connection with them unless the transmissionwires be strung overhead,) the transformer being an appliance used in some electric-light systems where the main or primary circuit can be brought to it from the street, and thence secondary circuits be taken to supply current for incandescent lamps, power, and the like.

\Vhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In an electric-lamp post, the combination of a hollow pole B, of insulating material, a casing O, enveloping the said pole throughout apart of its length from the surface above which it extends, a chamber D in the casing, a switch F in the chamber, and an opening or openings at the base of the post, through which to lead the conducting-wire into the lamp-post, substantially as described.

2. An electric-lamp vpost comprising, in combination, a hollow pole B, of insulating material, a casing C, enveloping the pole from the surface above which it extends, and formed with a removable and adjustable side a, a chamber D in the casing, a switch 1 in the said chamber, and one or more inlets for eonducting-wire in the base of the lamp-post between the pole and easing, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

\VILLIAM CARROLL.

In presence of J. W. DYRENFORTH, M. J. BownRs. 

